Every account has network storage that can be used for personal documents. Network storage is available also for departments and researchers. These locations are preferred because they are on-premise (here at UW), highly-available (multiple copies across multiple data centres), centrally monitored (24x7) and backed up hourly.
For departmental (administrative) documents, most people using Windows will see this storage mapped as their R: drive (cifs://filed/ahs$ for those using Macs).
AHS has allocated similar storage space to support research activities. Research space can be requested when/as needed.
Access to network storage from off-campus can be accomplished using the UW Virtual Private Network (VPN) service.